WASHINGTON (AFP) – US and Cuban officials held their latest round of talks here Friday on migration issues after nearly half a century without diplomatic ties between the long-time foes, the State Department said.

The meeting, which focused on implementation of the US-Cuba Migration Accords, was the third since President Barack Obama's administration decided to resume talks on the issue last year.

The US team, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly, "reaffirmed the US commitment to promote safe, legal and orderly migration," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

The meeting tackled efforts aimed at "ensuring the US interests section in Havana is able to monitor the welfare of repatriated migrants and gaining Cuban government acceptance for the repatriation of Cuban nationals who are subject to removal from the United States on criminal grounds," he added.

The Obama administration last year resumed talks on migration with Cuba that had been conducted every two years until his predecessor George W. Bush suspended them in 2003.

During the latest round of meetings, the Obama administration raised the case of Alan Gross, a US citizen held in Cuba since December 2009, and "called for his immediate release," Crowley said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said US officials would tell their Cuban counterparts that Cuba's detention of Gross was "harming" ties between the two countries.

US officials say that Gross worked for a non-government organization contracted by the State Department to supply computer and communications equipment to opposition groups on the island. Cuba suspects Gross is a spy.

The United States and Cuba have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1961, though Washington is represented by a US interest section in Havana.